A Passing Cloud
by ImpertinentCur
Summary: Inuyasha, Sango, and Shippo were all lost in the final battle with Naraku. What do you do when a friend is all you have left? Kag/Mir
1. Solution

Authors note: Let me start with a few warnings- I_ have,_ in fact seen all episodes of Inuyasha, as well as own several of the manga, _however _I'm still not sure how believable this story is going to come out. Also, the first few chapters are going to be rough, I only know what I'm doing as I get into the story! The last thing is this is a Kag/Mir but there is no Inuyasha or Sango bashing, in fact it starts out cannon,so don't worry about it. ...Er...I usually don't do het so who knows how this is going to end up. Okay...that's all I guess. XD Constructive critisism is appreciated, flames are...a waste of time!

Warnings: Mild profanity...not much else.

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Chapter one

Rain and bugs, rain and bugs, rain and bugs. Sometimes Kagome had to remind herself why, exactly, she willingly chose to stay here for such long periods of time, especially when such little progress was being made. And especially when _he_ was acting like this.

"Hey you back there, quit yer whinin'. It's almost nightfall, try to keep up!"

"We've been keeping up with you all day long without stopping! My legs are killing me. Can't we just stop and rest for five minutes?" Kagome argued back. Miroku and Sango exchanged glances, knowing exactly what was going to happen if Inuyasha didn't relent.

"We can stop and rest when we stop to make camp. Right now we need to keep going while the sun is still out, there ain't no time to be taking a rest right now!"

"Just five minutes! We've been traveling all day, and we haven't eaten since this morning! It's unfair of you to ask this much of us!"

"Keh! After all this time you'd think I'd have gotten used to traveling with weaklings, but nooo…" Inuyasha spoke under his breath.

"What did you call me!"

"Hey!" Sango cut in before someone ended up in ribbons. "We're _all_ tired. The hunger and bad weather aren't healping either, so let's just try to keep our tempers cool for once, okay? We've still go a long way to go before we reach our destination, group conflict isn't going to help anything. Inuyasha, you know a five minute break wouldn't hurt anything.We'll still make it to a camping spot before nightfall, just let us rest our feet for a moment."

"Yeah, I'm exhausted too! Can't we just sit down for a minute,_ pleeease_?" Shippo begged, dragging his little paws along in the muddy pathway emphasizing his words.

"Bloody hell, you too! I thought you called yourself a demon, and you get tired this easily!"

"Inuyasha!"

"What? Wait...No!"

"SIT!"

Mud rained up around the area of impact.

"He's still just a child, you can't expect everyone to be able to keep up with you!" Kagome snapped, before taking Shippo and starting off into the woods. "You can go on by yourself for all I care! I'm staying right here!" she added before she disappeared within the trees.

Sango and Miroku both expelled long-suffering sighs.

"So much for trying to be peacemaker. Miroku, do you think you could try to talk some sense into Inuyasha?"

"Never in a million years, but I'd be happy to try."

"Thanks...I'll go see if I can get Kagome to come back to us. I'll meet back up with you guys here." She said as she trailed after the other two.

Miroku carefully approached the brooding demon who had parked himself on a stone to the side of the path. Even though his face wasn't visible he had seen this body language a million times before and new he should choose his words carefully.

"I think it might be for the best if we made camp a little earlier than originally planned." he said in his most neutral voice.

A low growl was his response and he took a step back, waiting a moment before deciding to speak again. "Or…after a quick rest we may have enough energy back to make up for lost time…?"

There was a long while before he got any response.

"There's a village just beyond the next hill." Inuyasha said flatly, all previous anger gone from his voice; in fact he wasn't showing much emotion at all anymore. "I wanted to get there before the sun sets because I thought Kagome would like to spend the night inside for a change, since the ground is so muddy."

"Why didn't you just say so in the first place? Kagome's mood would have been entirely different, and you know that. She probably would have even insisted we go faster if you had said so."

"I didn't want her to know it was my idea! She…might think I care about you guys or somethin'. I must be getting soft…" he ended with a loud sigh.

Miroku couldn't contain his tittering.

"What's so funny!"

"Inuyasha, you're just so…"

"What!"

"Clueless."

"Hey! What's _that _supposed to mean!"

Miroku chose to ignore the fact that Inuyasha just proved his point and tried to explain to him just exactly all the things he was doing wrong.

-

Sango tracked Kagome and Shippo beyond the short wall of trees to the edge of a thin stream, where the two of them had stopped to cool off their aching feet.

"Kagome…may I sit with you for awhile?"

"Of course Sango...you're not the one I'm mad at."

Sango sat down wordlessly, settling down next to them before speaking.

"He's just tied too you know."

Kagome scoffed, and wriggled her toes around in the pebbles at the bottom of the water. "You mean to tell me the great and mighty Inuyasha would actually get tired? You must be joking."

"I don't mean physically tired, I mean another kind of tired. We all are, but he is especially. I know you're aware that he's just frustrated because we haven't had any progress in a long time. He just wants something to happen, you know how he hates sitting around. I'm sure he didn't mean to act the way he did."

"If he doesn't mean to act that way, then why _does_ he…_all the time_?"

"He doesn't know how to express his emotions very well. We need to learn to be understanding of him, as he needs to learn how to understand us. If we're all going to stick together we need to tolerate each other, and give grace when someone…usually Inuyasha…does something stupid."

Kagome shrugged. "I guess you're right…but I just wish it wasn't always me having to do the forgiving."

"I know. But he needs you. He's improved a lot since he met you. If you were to give up now he'll just continue being idiotic. You were given the job of straightening him out. Maybe one day you'll be rewarded for it."

"Do you really think so?"

Sango nodded.

"What kind of reward do you mean Sango?" a small voice spoke up startling the both of them.

"Shippo! You've been so quiet I forgot you were here with us!"

"Oh, sorry!...But what kind of reward do you mean? Do you mean like the kind of reward Kagome brings me whenever she comes back after a long time?"

The two girls giggled. "Not quite like that. Something even better."

"Even better than chocolate? I can't even imagine what it could be! You must be really lucky Kagome."

She took Shippo into her lap and started drying off his paws with her skirt. "I guess I am, even if sometimes I don't feel like it."

-

"What's taking the girls so long?" Miroku wondered out loud. If they were taking even longer than it takes for Inuyasha to cool off then they must be in some sort of danger! "If they don't come back in the next couple of minutes I'm going to go look for them myself."

"We could have been resting peacefully by a warm fire by now if we had just gone with my plan…" Inuyasha grumbled, perking his ears up to check for any distress calls beyond the trees. Miroku slapped his palm to his forehead. Fifteen minutes of lecturing him and it all went in one ear and out the other.

Luckily only a few moments later there was a rustling in the trees and the three rejoined the group.

"_Finally_!--" Inuysha began, before being cut off...by Miroku's foot on his own.

"I'm glad you're finally back, I was beginning to get worried something had happened." Miroku interrupted.

"Everything fine! "

"And I'm feeling much better and I think I'm ready to go on the rest of the way." Kagome said, regaining some of her enthusiasm.

Inuyasha felt the sole of Miroku's sandal dig even deeper into his calloused foot as he whispered into his ear.

"If you don't want Kagome to disappear to the other side of the well _forever_ then you'd better remember everything I told you."

"Alright alright! Just let up your damn foot will ya!" Inuyasha hissed back.

Miroku released him and Inuyasha sauntered forward. He cleared his throat in what he thought was a cool and casual manner before he spoke.

"_Ahem_. Um,…glad to see you decided to come back..." Inuyasha mumbled at Kagome, his personal growth obviously still stunted by his pride.

"_What else_?" his sensitive ears picked up Miroku whispering from a few feet away, as if he was trying to act as his conscience.

"And…um…I was...being unreasonable...and...I'msorrythatImadeyouangry." He said, trying to hide his twitching eye

"That's so sweet of you Inuyasha."

Several feet down the path Miroku and Sango shared a high five.

"Hop on." Inuyasha said as he turned around to get back on track. "There's not much further we're going to travel tonight so if you're so tired I don't mind carrying you the rest of the way."

"Oh! Thank you…" she accepted as she grabbed onto his neck and he began walking. She saw Sango give her a thumbs up as the group began walking forward once more.

"I'm impressed Miroku...you did a really good job straightening him out this time."

"Well, I can't take all the credit. He did offer to carry her all by himself."

"Did he? I never thought I'd live to see the day..."

"Say Sango, if you're also tired, why don't you hop on my back and let me carry you a little ways?"

"In your dreams, monk." she said as she quickened her pace.

Miroku sighed. "Sometimes I think I'll never live to see the day..." he lamented to himself.

-

Inuyasha had been right and the group came upon a village just over the next hill. However, any hopes of finding a room at an inn, let alone two, were getting smaller and smaller as the entire village seemed to be crowded beyond it's means.

"What's going on here, I wonder?" Inuyasha spoke to himself as he left Kagome back down on the ground.

"Looks like we might have had better luck camping in the mud back there, hehe." Shippo commented back.

"Shut your gob." Inuyasha returned, along with a light pop on the head.

"Ow! Hey, Kagome!"

"Inuyashaaa…"

"I'm sorry, okay! Geez…."

They passed by building after building, all either announcing its fullness with a 'No Vacancy' sign, or by the groups of people spilling out of the doors and into the street.

"So much for my plan…" Inuyasha grumbled when he felt a tickle on his cheek. He stopped in his tracks and slapped the itch, bringing his finger out to see what had bitten him.

"Myoga!"

"It's so good to see you again master Inuyasha." He wheezed as he pulled himself up to stand on Inuyasha's finger.

"What are you doing all the way out here? Can you tell us what in the world is going on around here?"

"There's a great evil in the next town! All of the townspeople had to evacuate and come here to escape the destruction that's destroying the entire area."

"A great evil?" Miroku repeated. "How did you find this out?"

"Everyone here is talking about it! Hundreds of people have already died trying to fight it...and I fear it might not be too long before it spreads to this village too."

"Heh, well then, it looks like we've finally got some action." Inuyasha said, cracking his knuckles in excitement.

"Wait Inuyasha, you mustn't go there! Not yet anyway..."

"What do you mean?"

"It's…" he paused and looked at the rest of the group. "Let's see if we can find a place to stay for the night. You look like you need some rest, and I'd like to speak to you in private."

"But it doesn't look like there are any places available."

"Try a little further towards the edge of the town. There were a few rooms available over there when I came into town."

The group followed Myoga's advice and headed toward the edge of the village. True to his word the crowds thinned out around the outskirts and it looked like they may be in luck afterall.

"Do you think it's anything serious?" Shippo whispered to the other three trailing behind.

"I don't know…the way Myoga was talking…I'd never seen him act like that before." Sango answered.

They eventually came across an inn that had a handful of rooms available. It wasn't the best, but it was better than sleeping in the mud. They were shown to their seperate rooms, however Myoga asked to speak with Inuyasha privately before Miroku settled into their room.

"That will be fine! I'll just keep the girls company while I'm waiting." Miroku grinned.

"I don't think that's such a good idea." Sango immediately interjected

"It'll only be a few minutes, you should be able to handle yourselves for that long, right?" Inuyasha said, somehow doubting his own words.

"Don't worry, I'll protect you from him!" Shippo offered, jumping up onto Kagome's shoulders and waving around his little fists.

Miroku heaved a sigh. "Truly you do underestimate me…" he said and they made their way to the other room.

"What's this all about?" Inuyasha asked as he slid the screen to his room shut.

"Master Inuyasha…the aura surrounding the next town...it felt as if it was coming from Naraku!" Myoga whimpered as if even being this close in proximity unsettled him.

"Naraku! Are you kidding! Why are you wasting my time talking to me like this? If he's so close by--"

"Please, listen to the rest of what I have to say! That's certainly not all there is to it. The town is located near the area where the great demon Kano was defeated..."

"Great demon Kano? Phft, never heard of 'im. Obviously he ain't the great."

Myoga sighed. He had been hoping this wasn't going to be a long night...

"Hundreds of years ago Kano wreaked havok upon the country, killing or destroying anything and everything that lay within his path. He was far too violent and powerful for anyone to defeat...until the monk named Tsuyoshi."

"Who the hell is Tsuyoshi? And what does all this have to do with Naraku?"

"Tsuyoshi knew there was only one way to defeat Kano...by sealing him away within the walls of the surrounding cliffs. The only way he could do it was by dragging Kano into the cliff himself and sealing it off from within, but he managed to stop the demon and the terror he was causing. But Kano is still laying dormant within the stones of the cliff."

"...And you think Naraku is trying to reawaken Kano so he can join with him..."

"Exactly. If we aren't able to intervene beforehand...Naraku _will_ be unstoppable."

"So then we'd better get going right now before it's too late! He's probably working on unsealing it as we speak!"

"Wait, master Inuyasha..."

"There's still more?"

"Tsuyoshi's method, while a great sacrifice, was the only successful way of defeating such a powerful demon."

"Yeah yeah, I got that all already!"

"It made me realize that perhaps the only way to destroy Naraku would be to follow his example."

"What do you mean? There's no way Miroku possesses the spiritual power to be able to seal off Naraku."

"No, not Miroku..._you_, Inuyasha."

"Me? Idiot...I'm not even a monk at all!"

"You misunderstand. I don't mean seal Naraku away. I mean if you can't kill Naraku in this world...then maybe the only way is to take him to hell yourself."

* * *

More author's note: Oh dear! I really have no idea what I'm talking about! XD ...Also, I forgot to mention this was unbeta'd so if there are spelling and grammar mistakes I am truly sorry! Thank you for reading, a new chapter will be up soon I hope. 


	2. Execution

Author's note: I hope there aren't too many spelling mistakes in this chapter, right now I'm using a borrowed computer that doesnt have Word xp but I'm doing everything I can to keep my spelling correct without it. This chapter...well it isn't my best, but once this is out of the way things will go smoothly from there. Haha...TT;. Flames are definately welcome on this chapter...

Guide: _italic_ means thinking, unless it's obvious it means emphasis. **bold** is Kano talking...I don't know why, I just thought that would make him look more powerful...hmm...

Warnings: Language...there's action but not really any violence so ner.

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Chapter two

Inuyasha didn't waste any time the following morning setting out towards the next town; in fact, he was so insistant on getting an early start that he only began to explain the fact that Naraku might be up ahead after they had begun traveling.

"Myoga is absolutely positive that it _is_ Naraku?"

"You don't see him hanging around with us, do ya?"

"True, but that doesn't mean he's correct."

"Well it's certainly worth my time to find out. But he's gotta be, everything he told me last night makes perfect sense..."

"What, exactly, did he tell you other than that this demon Kano is sealed away within the cliff?"

"Well for one thing, if we don't stop Naraku from unsealing him he's going to join with Kano...if we think he's difficult to defeat now, just think of what he'll become with that kind of power on his side..."

"And what if we don't get there in time to stop him? Or even if we do, did he give you any advice whatsoever about what we might be able to do to destroy Naraku?"

"Yeah, he did for once! And I don't know why we didn't think of it sooner..." he mused.

"...Well? What did he say?" Kagome prodded, after Inuyasha decided not to elaborate on his own.

"He said that if we aren't able to kill Naraku ourselves, then perhaps creating a portal to hell would be our only hope of defeating him." he explained, purposefully forgetting to mention that Myoga suggested he drag Naraku to hell himself. He had been up half the night thinking over what had been suggested...that's all it had been, of course, just a suggestion, and Inuyasha initially brushed it aside as being ridiculous and completely defeated his purpose of wanting to destroy Naraku in the first place; however, the more he thought about it, the more it began to seem like the only logical solution. If he truly wanted to defeat his great adversary, would it be worth it to sacrifice himself to achieve it?

"A portal to hell? How are we going to create something like that?"

"O-fuda."

"O-fuda! Don't tell me you're planning on having me be the one to create the portal!" Kagome shouted, terrified of Inuyasha's coming answer .

"You're the only miko we've got with us, aren't you?"

"But I hardly possess legendary spiritual power! I don't even know how I would go about creating something like that!"

"Well you can at least try before you doom yourself to failure! You've never let us down before, and I trust in you, Kagome, and you need to trust in yourself. It's not as if we'll blame you if it doesn't work, but for now you're our only hope."

Kagome slowed down, her face softening with Inuyasha's encouraging words. Even Miroku, Sango, and Shippo exchanged glances, wondering why in the world Inuyasha was being so supportive today.

"Well?" he continued, "Are you going to give it a try?"

She nodded. "I've give it my best effort." She ended with a weak smile, which Inuyasha briefly returned.

_'How is Kagome going to take it when she finds out I'm planning to take Naraku through the portal myself? Would it be worth it, for her to...'_

"Look!" Sango called out, halting everyone in their tracks. "Up there, above the treetops."

"The cliffs...Naraku must be close by."

"But why wasn't there a barrier? Do you think it could be a trap?"

"Of course it's a trap! He's probably expecting us! Don't let your guard down for a second..."

Not a second after the words left Inuyasha's lips the earth beneath then began to tremble.

"What in the hell-!" he shouted over a deafening rumble in the distance, as he looked up to see the side of the cliff start to split open.

"No! We're too late aren't we? He's already begun to unseal Kano!"

"No, we can still stop him! I'll go on ahead and see what I can do to slow him down, you stay here and try to work on getting the portal open!"

"Wait Inuyasha, it's too dangerous for you to go by yourself, I'll come with you!" Sango offered as she lifted the Hiraikotsu from her back in preperation.

"No Sango, I'll go with him, you should stay here and protect Kagome." Miroku argued, but Sango refused.

"I'll, uh, stay here with her too! To protect her!" Shippo added, even though he was clinging on to Kagome's legs for dear life.

"You should stay here with Kagome, Miroku, you would be of more use to her than I would. It'll be okay, really."

Miroku reluctantly accepted her request and she jumped onto Kirara and went after Inuyasha towards the crumbling cliffside. Miroku turned back towards Kagome, who was clenching on to an O-fuda with all her might, waiting for her great spiritual awakening to take over.

"_Oh man, what I wouldn't give to have Grampa with me right now...not that he'd be much help, but at least he's had some experience with these things!"_

-

Inuyasha and Sango reached the middle of the forest before they encountered the thick cloud of miasma. That coupled with the rocks raining down from the cliffside required all of their concentration just to make it out of the forest in one piece.

"I've been expecting you, Inuyasha." a voice spoke to them as they emerged from the trees, and Inuyasha looked up to find Naraku perched upon the cliffside, looking down upon them with his permanent devious smirk. Though that normally would have been quite enough of a challenge, what caught Inuyasha's eye this time was the giant split in the rock next to him, or rather the gruesome demon that was stirring within. It was...gargantuan. The putrid smell of decaying flesh and old blood was enough to bring even the strongest man to his knees, not to mention someone with Inuyasha's keen senses. The hideous creature cracked open one red eye, then the other, and slowly stood up straight, and emitted an equally hideous roar that was enough to make one's eyes water.

"Inuyasha, what should we do? We can't possibly handle that thing by ourselves, not to mention with Naraku here as well!" Sango exclaimed as Inuyasha formed a plan of action in his head.

"Join with me, Kano." Naraku spoke, stepping closer to the beast. "Make me even stronger than I already am!"

Kano gave a sickening laugh, and looked down upon Naraku as if he were scum. "**Join with you! Whatever would I want to do that for? You look so tiny and weak, I could squash you like an overripe grape.**" he spoke as he drew his rusted sword and moved to bring it down upon Naraku.

A flash of light reflected from the barrier around Naraku, and he smirked. "I possess the Shikon Jewel. Become part of me, and you'll be even more powerful than you are now."

"**The Shikon Jewel? Aha! To think I would join with you for that when I could just as easily take it for myself!**" Kano exclaimed and once again attempted to bring down his sword to break through Naraku's barrier. But Naraku isn't one to give up so easily, as Kano was about to find out.

Inuyasha drew his Tessaiga and instructed Sango to attack from the air as he charged forward to attack Kano while he was distracted with Naraku. After a moment of observing him before taking action he saw that while Kano was indeed powerful, he moved slowly and he was certain he would easily be able to get a direct hit. As he moved to make a hard blow on Kano's leg he was swept to the side by a tentacle from Naraku's transformed body.

"Die Inuyasha!" Naraku hissed as he fought off both Inuyasha's interferance and Kano's sword.

Kano once again roared as he tried to squash Inuyasha beneath his foot like a worm. "Sango!" he cried out as she hurled forth the Hiraikotsu from above, freeing Inuyasha from Naraku's grasp.

"Inuyasha we need help! We can't handle the both of them alone!"

"Can you see Kagome from up there? Has she opened up a portal yet?" he yelled as he once again got to his feet and jumped into the action.

"I can't see anything! What if it doesn't work Inuyasha? If she can't open the portal...how are we going to get out of here alive?"

"She'll do it!" he insisted as he took another blow to an approaching tentacle, avoiding Kano's clumsy footsteps as he emerged from his holding spot within the rocks.

"**Pathetic demons! Whether you possess the Shikon Jewel or not you are still no match for me! Even if you were the most powerful demon in the world, now that you have awaken me you are nothing more than the maggots that will infest your dead bodies once I am through with you!**" Kano screeched as he continued to slash his sword around, knocking trees down in his wake.

"Sango! Get behind him!" Inuyasha ordered as he kept a step behind both of the egocentric demons. Even Naraku had his hands full just dealing with this Kano creature now, he didn't have time to deal with insignificant half-breeds at the moment.

Sango once again threw her attack, going for the back of Kano's head, which was unsurprisingly hard as a rock and unaffected, thought it did manage to annoy him.

"**Stupid wench!**" he growled and turned to swat an enormous claw at her as if he was swatting away a tiny fly.

"Sango, look out!" Inuyasha cried out in vain. Just as she moved to avoid the impact a blinding light flashed from the distance, causing her to lose her balance. Inuyasha heard her scream but could see nothing but white light.

"Sango! Are you okay?" he shouted as the light faded away, but he saw no trace of her or Kirara.

"Don't let your guard down, Inuyasha!" Naraku mocked as he reached out to grab him once again, barely missing him.

"Bastard! I'm going to win! Don't you ever doubt that for a second!" he screamed, hitting a group of tentacles with the Wind Scar.

Naraku chuckled obnoxiously. "If nothing else, you certainly are entertaining." he taunted even as Kano chased him deeper within the trees.

"_Inuyasha! She did it, the portal is open! Hurry before she loses her strength to keep it open!_" Inuyasha's ears picked up Miroku calling out from the other side of the forest. With a newfound hope Inuyasha's energy came back full-force and he jumped back into the fight.

"Stop acting so cocky! If you're so great then how come this ancient behemuth is after your ass? The both of us too much for you to handle?"

"Silence!" Naraku bellowed as he caught hold of Kano's feet and wrapped his tentacles around his ankles. Kano growled and moaned as he hacked away at Naraku, still attempting to step forward and rip Naraku to shreds to get to the Shikon Jewel.

-

"I see them! They're coming this way!" Shippo announced nervously as they saw the top of Kano's head approaching them quickly from over the treetops.

"Just hold it for a little bit longer Kagome, we're going to make it this time!" Miroku encouraged her as he warded off a swarm of poisonous insects with his staff.

"It hurts..._it hurts_..." Kagome whispered while trying to maintain her concentration. If they didn't show up soon, she wasn't sure what would happen to them, or to herself.

"Just a couple more minutes, they're getting closer!"

Trees were uprooted and tossed aside as Kano and Naraku barrelled through the forest, with Inuyasha trailing after them. Inuyasha could only hope that Kagome was strong enough to hold out for another couple of minutes.

_'Hang in there...I'm coming...' _he mentally spoke to her as they sped closer and closer.

"**Die you insolent fool! You think I can be overtaken so easily!**" Kano screamed angrily, even as Naraku wrapped himself around his legs, growing at a rate Kano was unable to keep up with.

"You have severaly underestimated me, 'great' demon Kano." he spoke as he began to devour the large body into his own. "To think that you might actually be more powerful than I...how ignorant." he said calmly as Kano still tried to get free of his grasp.

"They're coming, they're coming!" Shippo cried out as he ran to hide behind Miroku. The three demons emerged from the dark branches surrounding them and Naraku laughed.

"What have we here? Your backup plan, Inuyasha? Haven't you realized that there's nothing in the world that can stop me now?"

"Maybe nothing in _this_ world..." Inuyasha yelled as he cut himself free of the tentacle creeping around his waist. "Miroku! Can you create a barrier so they can't escape?"

"I...I'll try." Miroku replied as he brought up his staff and cast a barrier around the area as Naraku was still busy drawing the struggling Kano into his body.

"**How dare you even try to do this to me! Never, NEVER will I let something like you take control of me!**" Kano still protested as his only free arm thrashed about, coming down dangerously close to both Kagome and Miroku.

"Oh no! Watch out!" Shippo hollered, jumping down to try to protect Miroku from an impending blow. He threw the sword off of its course, gasping as the blade sliced through his own flesh in place of Miroku's.

"_Shippo_!" Kagome cried out, but Inuyasha stopped her.

"Don't lose your concentration Kagome!" he reminded her as jumped up to grab hold of Kano's defenseless hand, which was the only part of him left that had not already been drawn inside of Naraku. "I've got him!" he declared, using every last bit of strength he had to drag the pulsating mass closer to the weakening portal.

"Inuyasha, what are you doing! You're getting to close...stop!" she pleaded as she saw him heading towards the pull of the gateway along with their enemies.

"This is the only way Kagome! I have to do this!"

"No! Stop, Inuyasha, don't!" she called out, as he flew toward it dragging a resistant Naraku along behind him.

"I'm sorry!" was the last thing he had time to say before he and Naraku were pulled through the blinding light and disappeared.

"_INUYASHA_!"

Miroku released the barrier and shouted out towards her. "Close the portal!"

"No! We have to get Inuyasha back! We can't let him sacrifice himself like this!"

"If you don't close it now you'll die!"

Tears spilled from her eyes as she continued her hold on the spell. "No...no...we can't let him do this..." she whimpered, feeling weaker and weaker by the second.

The last thing she heard was Miroku calling out her name as everything around her faded to black.

* * *

More author's notes: (cough) Um...ha. Well the next chapter will be good okay? I'm trying to improve as quickly as I can ;; 


	3. The aftermath

Disclaimer that I forgot about the last two chapters O.O: I don't own Inuyasha... XP. If I did I would be out writing _it_ and making moneyand not writing fanfiction, which is making me lose money because I am working on this instead of getting a real job.

Author's note: About that last chapter...again...you know how when sometimes things look good in your imagination but when you write it down it turns into crap? ...That's what happened. When I'm done with this story I'd like to go back and rewrite it, but until then, I'm just going to use it as a stepping stone into the main plot of the story. Anyway...please enjoy this new chapter, I hope.

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Chapter Three

It only took a few seconds for Miroku to realize that it didn't matter how many times he yelled her name, or how loud he raised his voice...Kagome had been completely drained and she wasn't going to regain conciousness for quite some time. He didn't want to leave her here by herself, but Sango and Kirara still hadn't returned and he didn't want to waste any time in looking for them. And there was also Shippo... Poor Shippo who had been killed protecting Miroku. He wasn't going to be able to carry both of them through the forest, but he had no means to dig even a shallow hole to place Shippo in. He gave only a moment of thought before unfastening his outer robes and placing them over the small body; on their way out of the forest he would come back and retrieve him in order to give him a proper burial. Then he didn't waste another second and set about lifting Kagome onto his back and starting off into the trees.

"Sango! Kirara!" he called out, over and over again, hearing nothing in return each time. "Sango! Kirara!" he called out for what felt like hours, as sweat began to drip and sting his eyes, and the weight on his back seemed to increase with each step he took, but the sun would be setting soon and the impending darkness would make it even more difficult to find them if he didn't keep going as long as he could now. "Sango! Kirara!" he called out, beginning to wonder if he was even heading in the right direction, but he pushed such thoughts out of his head and reminded himself he shouldn't let himself lose hope just yet. "Sango! Kirara!" he would keep calling out until his voice was reduced to nothing more than a hoarse whisper.

"Sango! Kira-" he began to shout again when his ears picked up a quiet roar in the distance. "Kirara!" he recognized and felt a new burst of energy that allowed him to stay in his feet long enough to follow the sound.

He came upon a small clearing and stopped short, placing Kagome gently on the ground and running over to the still body Kirara was laying next to.

"Sango!" he exclaimed, kneeling down next to her and taking her gently into his arms. "Sango...please...wake up...please..." he spoke, but upon first touch he felt that her skin had already grown cold. "No...I don't want to lose you too...please come back..." he whispered as the tears began to fall from his eyes.

-

It was dark the next time Kagome opened her eyes, and she couldn't recall a single thing that had happened; then again the pain in her head was so great she wasn't really able to think about much at all at the moment.

'_Where am I again?_' she thought to herself, and suddenly sat up straight, fearing herself to be alone or possibly having been kidnapped.

"Be careful," a ragged but slightly familiar sounding voice spoke to her from the darkness. "You should probably lay back down for awhile."

"Inuyasha? Is that you?" she whispered back as she felt a hand on her shoulder guiding her back down to rest of a soft surface.

The voice waited a moment before replying. "No," it said to her, sounding very solemn. "it's Miroku."

"Oh. Where are the others?"

"Don't worry about it. Just go back to sleep for now." he insisted and she obeyed him without further questions.

Miroku sighed inwardly as he continued to stroke Kagome's hair soothingly until he was certain she had gone back to sleep. He dreaded the moment she woke up again, and asked the same question, and he would have to be the one to remind her.

-

Miroku got an early start the next morning, and got moving the moment he saw the first ray of light peaking over the horizon. Kirara was relatively uninjured and was ble to carry Kagome on her back, while Miroku carried Sango in his arms by her side. They came upon the spot where he had left his purple robes to cover Shippo and he retrieved them and they continued on into the abandoned town where Miroku sought out a shovel and immediately set to work, even though he felt incredibly guilty doing so. He knew that Sango would most likely wish to be buried within her own village, but even with Kirara's help there was no way he'd be able to travel quickly enough to both Sango and Shippo's respective homes to bury them. The ground was still soft from the rain, but no longer muddy, and it didn't take him very long at all to finish his job. He had just finished patting down the last bit of earth and giving his private good-byes when he heard Kagome begin to stir again.

"Nn...my head...where am I now...?" she spoke to herself before noticing Miroku approaching her. "Miroku...where- ...what's happened to you?" she changed course when she noticed he was wearing only his black yukata and the dirt covering his hands. Before he was able to respond she continued with her original train of thought. "Where are we? Where have the others gone?"

"Don't you remember anything?" he spoke gently, hoping she would remember herself so he wouldn't have to tell her. His fears were realized whenever she shook her head.

"Yesterday...we fought Naraku...don't you remember? Inuyasha sacfrificed himself in order to defeat him..."

Kagome's eyes grew wide as the memories came flooding back. "_Inuyasha_!" she cried out, jumping to her feet only to fall back down to her knees, and Miroku lunged forward to catch her.

"And Shippo and Sango...they're gone too. We're the only ones left." he sadly informed her. She grabbed onto his arms, he could see the desperation coming back to her eyes. "We have to go back! Please, we have to get them back! Isn't there any way we can-"

"Kagome, stop." he gently cajoled her. "Stop. There's nothing we can do."

"Don't say that! There's got to be some way...I could try to reopen the portal, and-"

"No." he said simply, putting his finger to her lips to hush her. "You're exhausted. Your powers are spent. And even if you could reopen the portal...getting Inuyasha back from hell would be almost impossible. Besides...it wouldn't get the others back."

"No..." she weakly resisted, struggling to get free of Miroku's tight grasp. _He must be lying...there has to be a way...he doesn't know what he's talking about!_

Miroku only pulled her tighter into his embrace, hoping to calm her down before she managed to hurt herself. "How can you give up so easily?" she sobbed into his chest, and he felt the pain inside of him multiply.

"I'm not giving up. You can't give up when there's nothing you can do to about something. If I thought there was a way to bring Inuyasha back that wouldn't put you in danger I would have tried it already, but there isn't. Sometimes...sometimes it really is better to accept things as they are than to have false hopes."

Her sobs only came harder, and he held on to her harder, and he didn't let go of her until she succumbed to her exhaustion once again.

-

Miroku gave up two nights of sleep in order to get Kagome back to Kaede's hut as quickly as possible. She had only woken up again once, and had managed to stay calm, but refused any water Miroku tried to give her before going back to sleep again. By the time they arrived at Kaede's Miroku was feeling almost as exhausted as Kagome probably felt.

Kaede, while rather frail and sickly herself, was able to take the both of them in and nurse them back to health. It only took a few herbs and several hours of sleep for Miroku to get back on his feet and help Kaede out while she was caring for Kagome, who was slower to get her energy back. By the third day Miroku began to wonder if maybe telling her to give up hope was the right thing to do after all; it was something she needed to hear, but maybe he should have waited until she was better to tell her. That same day Kaede came out to him as he was tending her garden to let him know that her physical health was back to perfect, but she still seemed to lack any interest in getting back on her feet.

"I think ye should go in and speak with her."

"I don't know...I'm not sure if she would want to see me."

"Oh pah! Ye two are all ye have right now. Ye should put everything in the past and go remind her that you're still her friend."

He sighed, but nodded, and went into the small room where Kagome was sitting on her futon with Kirara on her lap.

"Kagome," he spoke, and she shifted uncomfortably, but didn't look up at him. "I know what I told you the other day wasn't what you wanted to hear..."

She didn't verbally respond to him, but her body language told him that she certainly agreed with him.

"But I couldn't let you hurt yourself by trying to get Inuyasha back!"

"So you thought it would be better to hurt me first instead?" she finally said to him.

"No! I didn't mean to...I was trying to keep you from _getting_ hurt!"

"Well good job." she replied quite sarcastically and he moved to kneel down next to her.

"Please Kagome, can't you try to see things from my perspective? I was only trying to do what I thought was best for you!"

She returned to giving him the silent treatment again, and the more seconds that ticked by, the more Miroku felt himself losing his patience with her.

"You're not the only one who lost someone, you know!" he said, his words finally making her look at his face for the first time since the incident, and she saw the sadness in his eyes, and she felt her heart soften once again when the realization hit her.

"Miroku..." she called after him, but he had already left her side and exited the hut. She moved to go after him, but he was already out of sight.

"Kaede-" she began to ask, and Kaede answered by pointing in the direction he had gone and watched her run after him with a hint of worry on her face.

"Oh dear..." she sighed to herself as she returned to finishing the work in the garden "Whatever is the matter with young people?"

-

Kagome caught up with Miroku several minutes later where he had stopped to rest in the lush grass, and she took a seat next to him whether he liked it or not.

"I'm sorry." she spoke first, switching roles with him when he was the one to not say anything. "I guess I was just so preoccupied about losing Inuyasha, I wasn't able to give anyone else much thought. I...I loved Inuyasha. And I know you loved Sango. And we both loved Shippo like our own brother. ...I just...wasn't thinking. Not to mention you did so much to bring me back here, and I've been so ungrateful to you."

"It's okay. I understand." he said truthfully, but she shook her head still.

"No, you've done so much for me even after all that happened. Thank you."

He nodded and gave her a smile, which she returned, and they sat together silently for a long time until she spoke again.

"How's your hand?"

He held up his hand which was uncovered and solid flesh. "I didn't even get a chance to think about it until we got back. I don't think I've really even realized that I've gotten my life back."

"At least that's one thing you can be happy about."

He gave a small nod, and let a few minutes pass before bringing up something that had been on his mind the past few days.

"Naraku is gone, and the Shikon jewel went with him to hell where it belongs..." he said, and she nodded in encouragement to continue to his point. "And you've recovered and have your energy back. Everything is finally finished...so now...I think, maybe...it's time for you to go home Kagome."

"What! Go home, but I-" she argued, and he interrupted her.

"There isn't any reason for you to stay here. You have a family waiting for you Kagome. You should go back to them, and back to the life you had."

"But...but what about you, and..."

"We can manage by ourselves, you don't have to worry about us. ...You don't belong here anymore Kagome."

Her eyes began to water, but she knew he was right. Now that everything was over...and everyone was gone...there was no use for her here.

She nodded and he reccommended she go back tonight, before she changed her mind. She should keep her family waiting a moment longer after all. She returned to the hut to retrieve her backpack and say farewell to Kaede and Miroku escorted her to the well just as the sun began to set.

"After all this time, I can't believe it's finally over." she said as she sat her backpack down and looked about the area one last time. "...Are you sure I should go now...are you going to be okay ...with _everyone _gone?"

"Yes." he insisted, and he gave her a gentle smile to cover the sadness in his eyes. "It's been nice knowing you Kagome. I hope things go well for you when you get back."

"You too.." she said, and ran forward to give him a hug, which he returned softly and she stepped back to pick up her things and hop over the well.

"Good-bye." she whispered as she jumped into the hole and disappeared into the dark bottom.

Miroku stayed for a few moments, looking down at the empty grey bottom of the well before he turned to go back to Kaede's.

"_Good-bye._"

* * *

More author's note: I might not be able to get a new chapter up for awhile...I hope next week by the latest.


	4. Trying to move on, maybe

Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha. Ner.

Author's note: Firstly, I'd like to thank everyone who had reviewed, which I meant to do before but I forgot --; Also, there was a change of plans and it took me one day to update, not one week. yay. I just hope it doesn't come out sounding too rushed.

* * *

Chapter four

Kagome came into the kitchen just as her family was about to sit down to dinner. Buyo was the first to notice, followed by Souta who called out.

"Kagome! Hey, Kagome's home!"

"Kagome! Welcome home dear! You must be tired. Why don't you sit down with us for dinner, and then you can have a hot bath before getting ready for bed. We're having butajiru tonight." her mother offered as she took her backpack from her and sat it aside as she ushered Kagome towards the table.

"Thanks mom...but I'm not really all that hungry right now." she replied quietly.

"So!" Grampa exclaimed before her mother had a chance to ask any questions. "How long are you able to stay this time? A night? A week?" he went on as he indiscreetly attempted to spoon most of the pork into his own bowl, much to Souta's chagrin.

"Longer than that. ...I'm back for good. It's over. Everyone's gone, and it's all over..." she spoke, nearly letting out the tears she had been holding back since she gave ehr last good-bye to Miroku.

"It's over?"

"But what about Inuyasha?" Souta inquired, forgetting about the stolen pork for a moment. "Aren't we ever going to see him again?"

Kagome shook her head. "No. ...He's... He sacrificed himself in order to defeat Naraku..."

"He what!"

"You means he's..."

She nodded and her mother came over to take her into her arms as she finally let go and allowed herself to cry once again. "Inuyasha...and Sango, and Shippo, they're all gone. Miroku and Kirara and I were the only ones left."

"Oh Kagome, I'm so sorry. But I'm glad you're okay...if anything had happened to you..." she trailed off, not wanting to think about the rest of the sentence herself.

"Grampa," Kagome sniffled as she pulled away from her mother slightly. "I'd like it if you could seal the well as soon as possible. Tonight if it's possible."

"But-"

"Please?"

He hesitated, but then nodded. "I understand. I'll get to it right after dinner."

-

Miroku sat under a shade tree looking at the clouds slowly passing by with Kirara napping in his lap just as he had done for most of the afternoons since Kagome left. He knew very well that just because Naraku was gone that was no reason other demons weren't wreaking havok on other helpless villages, and he really should get on his way and get back into his old job of exorcising and...well...other things. But it just wasn't in his heart at the moment. He was content enough to tell himself that he might as well stay around here for awhile and help Kaede out around her home when he was needed, and he could get going after that, even though deep down he was well aware that there was another reason he wasn't ready to go on his way yet.

'_A passing cloud..._' he thought to himself as he watched a cloud leisurely float by, blocking the sun momentarily before moving on and allowing the gentle rays to warm his face again. '_I wonder how long it will take before mine moves on..._'

"Mew!" Kirara greeted him as she woke from her nap and stretched, only to turn around and settled back down on her other side. Even she seemed to share Miroku's feelings. She had been sleeping more during the day since Sango had...since Miroku had adopted her as his own. She never appeared to be angry or even sad about what happened, she was just tired and sometimes lonely, and she and Miroku were happy to have each other's company, even though they couldn't have meaningful conversations, not that Miroku was in the mood for talking most of the time anyway.

'_Indeed, I am content this way...just me, and Kirara, and the clouds passing by...I am content, and I am happy_', he told himself over and over, and would keep telling himself for as long as it would take him to believe.

-

"It's been a month already," Kagome sighed to herself as she sat at her desk in front of her homework assignment, which she hadn't even started on yet despite the fact that she had been sitting there for nearly an hour. It seemed the harder she tried to forget the more memories came flooding into her mind, making it impossible to concentrate on anything else. It didn't help that everyone and everything around her seemed to remind her in one way or another...the god tree for example, which she couldn't even look at anymore and had to run past every day on her way to and from school or else she would get choked up from just being near it...and it didn't help that on her first day back her three friends immediately asked her about 'that guy' she had been seeing. Even without all of that, there was a feeling in the back of her mind that she had forgotten something...unfinished business maybe? Or possibly just guilt for leaving Miroku alone so soon?

"Arrgh!" she cried out in frustration, shaking her head as if it would make her thoughts go away. "Just stop thinking about it! There's no use in worrying over things I can't do anything about...like Miroku tried to tell me..." she caught herself and rolled her eyes in annoyance. "Geez! Why won't it stop?"

"Um...sis...are you talking to yourself?" Souta asked as he stuck his head through her doorway.

"Gah! Um...well I...maybe...nevermind. Is there something you wanted Souta?" she stuttered.

"I was just going to tell you that your friend is downstairs, waiting to see you."

"My friend?"

She stepped out into the hall and peered downstairs, spotting Hojo waiting at the bottom of the staircase.

"Oh no." she sighed quietly, and promptly wilted. It wasn't that she didn't like Hojo...she just wasn't in the mood to deal with him right now. But still, she didn't want to be rude; that and he had already spotted her so it was too late to go hide now.

"Kagome!" he greeted her happily as she descended the stairs.

"Hello Hojo. Is there something I can help you with?"

"Well, I was just wondering if, since your health is doing much better, and tomorrow is Sunday and all...would you like to go with me?" he asked, producing a ticket which read '**_1000-2000, A Thousand Years Of Japanese Culture: Exhibition and Lecture_**'. "That is, if you're free of course."

"Uhm...wow...that sounds...really...interesting!" She replied, trying hard to mask her lack of enthusiasm. But she had no excuses this time, and she did kind of feel bad for blowing him off all those times in the past. Maybe a nice outing with a friend was what she needed to take her mind off of things.

"So...how about it?"

She gave a kind smile and nodded in consent. "I'd love to go with you Hojo."

He smiled in return, somewhat surprised that she accepted without any excuses. "Great! I'll pick you up tomorrow afternoon then? Would three be alright?"

"That would be fine!" she agreed as she saw him out the door. "See you then!" she said before shutting the door and resting her forehead against it. '_Man, why did he have to invite me to** that**?_'

"It's good to see you going out with friends again." her mother spoke from behind her, startling her.

"Yeah...I guess it's time I moved on with my life anyway, huh?"

Her mother smiled warmly, but didn't agree or disagree exactly. "I know you're still sad about losing your friends, and are going to be for a very long time still, and I wanted to allow you as much time to grieve as you needed...but it is good to see you take the first step to moving on."

"Thanks mom." Kagome said, returning a smile before she returned to her room. If she had plans for tomorrow then she'd better get started on her homework...

-

Hojo arrived at Kagome's front door at two o'clock, fifty-nine minutes, and fifty-eight seconds. Kagome was ready of course, and they hopped onto their respective bicycles and went on their way to the building holding the exhibition, which was only about a fifteen minute ride. Kagome had convinced herself that it probably wouldn't be as boring as she imagined, but her fears were confirmed the second they stepped into the doorway...this was going to be a long afternoon...

"WOW! Hey Kagome, look at this!" Hojo shouted in excitement, who obviously felt the complete opposite about the entire thing. "An entire kiosk dedicated to holistic remedies of medieval Japan! Can you believe it?"

'_I dont **want** to believe it_' "Really? How exciting that must be for you!" she feigned excitment, which she knew was only going to get her in deeper.

"Come over here and have a look! This stuff is amazing!"

-

'_Three hours...three hours...threehoursthreehoursthreehours...I can't believe we've been here for three hours..._' were the only thoughts in Kagome's head by now. If she never saw another daisho or shoto replica in her life it would be just fine by her...not to mention this ended up being the worst place to be in regards of taking her mind off of things, what with the seemingly endless Feudal Era exhibits and kiosks they had. Hojo, however, couldn't have been happier about how much further ahead they were going to go in their history class. At the moment they were 30 minutes into the 90 minute long lecture (the shortest one they were offering by the way) about 'A brief summary of the past thousand years of Japanese culture as explained by Dr. "Deadpan" Okamura' etc etc blah blah blah.

'_Brief! Brief my-_'

"...various artifacts connected to Shinto priests and miko, including o-fuda, shikigami, and summoning scrolls, which are of course obsolete in this day and age..." Dr. Okamura waxed on, catching Kagome's attention for once.

'_What did he just say...of course...of **course**!_' she thought excitedly and jumped up out of her seat without a second thought.

"Kagome, where are you going?" Hojo whispered after her, and she stopped just long enough to give an excuse.

"I'm sorry Hojo, but I just remembered that I have to go do something...thanks for taking me here, I had a really good time!" she spoke in a hurry as she ran off before he even had time to ask another question.

"Should I even really be surprised that she did it again?" he said to himself as he watched her run out of the room. "Well, I enjoyed the time we were able to spend together this time, at least." he sighed in acceptance and turned back to the lecture.

-

Kagome jumped on to her bicycle and sped home, returning in half the time it took for them to get to the exhibition. She bypassed her house completely and ran towards the shrine, where her grandfather would probably be taking inventory.

"Grampa!" she cried out, throwing the door open just as he was sneaking a(nother) sip of his hidden stash of sake.

"Wah! Kagome, you shouldn't cry out like that, especially at old people!" he said as he choked.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to startle you. But I need to know, do you have any summoning scrolls?" _Pleasepleasepleasepleaseplease..._

Her grandfather beamed at her, thrilled that she had taken a sudden interest. "You're in luck!" he said, pulling out a large box full of scrolls. "Take your pick! I've got dozens of them..."

"Thank you! Thank you!" she cried out, taking one and turning back to him. "Grampa, I need you to unseal the bone eater's well."

"Unseal it! But-"

"Please! It's important, I have to go back there!"

He didn't ask any questions, and nodded as he did before. "I'll get right to it, if that's what you want."

She thanked him as she ran into the house to throw a few things into her backpack once again and grab the small bottle with the remaining two Shikon shards that Naraku never got. '_I hope these will still work for me..._' she thought, before running back down the stairs.

"Kagome! What on earth are you doing? I thought you said you didn't need to go back through the well again?" her mother said, as she noticed the backpack as well as the Shikon shards around her neck once again.

"I have to go back mom...I just...I need to try something...just one more time. I can't let it go without trying." she replied without stopping, not wanting anything to get in between her and the possibilty of finding some way to get Inuyasha back.

She ran to the well, which her grandfather had already unsealed and was waiting for her next to it.

"Malaria this time, is it?" he said with a wink.

"Grampaaa..."

"Don't worry, don't worry, I'll take care of it, you just do what you have to do. Be careful though, do you understand?"

She nodded, and assured him she would be alright. She stepped up to the well and clutched on to the Shikon shards.

'_Well...here goes nothing..._' she thought as she lept over the side and plummeted down...


	5. How aggravating!

Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha. Doy.

Author's notes: This is a very short, hardly useful chapter. I've got writer's block...obviously. But not writing at all isn't going to cure it, however that usually means the reader is going to suffer;.; Well at least it's short.

* * *

Chapter Five

As soon as she touched down onto the stone floor of the well Kagome released the breath she didn't even realize she had been holding. With no time to waste, she pulled herself up by the vines and ran towards Kaede's hut in a hurry.

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN SHE WENT HOME FOREVER?" a voice bellowed from within the hut. She stopped for a second, and then went forward cautiously, wondering if Kaede was in danger, but then again she was unarmed and wouldn't be of much help even if she was.

"You're lying! She must be here! You're just hiding her for yourself, is that it, monk?" the voice continued, becoming more irritated with each word.

"I assure you I'm telling the truth." She could hear Miroku's much more calm voice respond. …Miroku was still here, after all this time?

"I CAN'T BELIEVE IT! THIS CAN'T BE HAPPENING! I can't believe she really left me! WITHOUT A GOODBYE! And she's never coming back! HOW COULD SHE DO THIS TO ME!" the overdramatic visitor continued on until she appeared in the doorway.

"Kouga!"

"Kagome!" both men exclaimed simultaneously and Kouga rose from his pose-o-misery and leaped over to her.

"You're a liar, monk! You _were_ keeping her to yourself, weren't you! Well HA! You've been found out!" he shouted angrily as he embraced Kagome protectively.

"I wasn't lying-" Miroku tried to defend himself, going unnoticed as Kouga turned towards Kagome and continued.

"I've been so worried about you, my darling Kagome! I heard about what happened and rushed to find you immediately! I had hoped that with that halfb-- Inuyasha gone, you would be left in good hands, but obviously I was mistaken." he spat, obviously trying to win Kagome's approval with tact.

"Why, Kouga," Kagome spoke as she politely tried to wriggle free of Kouga's arms. "It's so sweet of you to be concerned, but really, Miroku is telling you the truth."

"WHAT? So you really _did_ leave without even a good-bye? Kagome…h-how could you-.."

"If I may ask, why _have_ you come back, Kagome?" Miroku inquired, obviously a bit nonplussed.

"Oh, Miroku!" she exclaimed excitedly, tearing out of a distressed Kouga's grasp and producing the summoning scroll to show Miroku. "I think I've found a way to get Inuyasha back! I don't know why we didn't think of it before."

"What is it?" Miroku asked as he took the scroll from her and looked it over.

"A summoning scroll. I wouldn't even have to open up a gateway to hell; we would just be able to summon Inuyasha back with this, couldn't we?"

"Kagome, this scroll….is completely worthless."

The excitement drained from her face, being replaced with disappointment just as quickly. "What do you mean it's worthless?"

"It has no spiritual power whatsoever. It's little more than a cheap souvenir." Miroku explained, trying not to crush her too badly at the same time.

Her shoulders slumped, more in disappointment in herself for believing her grandfather would posses anything useful.

"Don't worry about it, my darling!" Kouga said as he came over and put his arm around her once again. "Just because your little scroll dealie was worthless is no reason to be so down. I still love you no matter what."

"However," Miroku continued, completely ignoring Kouga "it may be possible to find an authentic scroll-…"

"Really!" Kagome perked up, shrugging off Kouga and turning back to Miroku. "Why didn't you say anything about this before?"

"These are extremely rare to come across, and even rarer is the person that is able to use them. It takes someone who possesses immense spiritual power to be able to master and control a summoning spell."

"But, I opened a gateway to hell before, do you think I would be able to-…"

Miroku began shaking his head before she even finished her sentence, causing her to wilt once again. "I'm sorry Kagome, it's not that I don't trust in your abilities, it's just that it's highly unlikely you would posses this ability, especially after you spent so much energy opening the portal."

"But it is possible to find someone who does, right?"

"Yes, but it's going to take hard work and a lot of time to search. But…I know how much it would mean to you, so I will try."

"Oh thank you Miroku!"

"Ahem…why don't you allow me to go searching with her, monk? You ought to stay here and help out the ol' woman anyway. I don't care how long it takes to find this scroll, as long as I'm doing something to help my beautiful Kagome…" Kouga spoke up once again, taking Kagome's hands in his.

"It's nice of you to offer Kouga, but I really think I should be the one to go." Miroku said trying to keep calm. Strange…he's never been annoyed by Kouga before…

"Oh? And why exactly is that? You trying to keep her all to yourself again?"

"Oh, come on now Kouga." Kagome interrupted, still keeping a smile on. "Miroku's a monk, so of course I want him to come along with me to make sure I'm getting a real summoning scroll, and not another useless scrap of paper like this one. That's all, I'm sure."

"Well at least allow me to come along with you. I'm sure you won't turn down the extra comfort of protection…and I don't just mean from demons either."

"Again, it's kind of you to offer, but Miroku and I can take care of ourselves…and I'm hardly threatened by him." '_in fact I'd feel safer if **you** didn't come along.'_

"Well…but….can I at least-…"

"Kouga, you heard what she said. It's kind of you to offer, but we need to do this by ourselves. Besides, don't you think Ayame would be jealous if she found out you were traveling with Kagome?"

"That's right! Think of what Ayame would do if she found you here with me right now! You'd better get back to your den before she tracks you down."

"But I came all this way to make sure you were alright!"

"And you have!" She said as she escorted him out of the doorway. "It was nice of you to come see how I was doing, but I think it's time you go back now."

Kouga sighed and relented. "I understand. I'm just glad that you're okay Kagome. I'll see you again soon, alright?" he promised before Kagome sent him on his way.

She went back inside to make plans with Miroku regarding their journey. "I do feel kind of bad though, just brushing him off like that."

"Do you honestly think he would have truly been any help looking for an object that is going to be used to get Inuyasha back?"

"I guess you're right…but still…" she trailed off, and looked up at him. "I wasn't expecting to find you here, I figured you would have moved on a long time ago. How have you been doing?"

"No worse than you, I suppose. I thought I'd stay here and help Kaede for awhile since I had no urgent business pressing me anymore."

"Well I'm glad you did. …Where is Kaede anyway?"

"She and Kirara went to take medicine to a girl in another village."

"Oh. ..Kirara too? Should we wait until they come back before we leave? Would it be easier if we had Kirara with us?"

"You make a good point, but we should get going as soon as possible. We don't have even a few days to spare."

"We don't? I mean, of course I want to get started as soon as possible, but at this point does a few days make a difference?"

"That's just it…it's been a month already. The longer Inuyasha's been in hell the harder it's going to be to summon him back. But you're right, it would be easier to have Kirara with us. I'm going to leave a note to explain where we've gone, and to ask Kirara to try to meet up with us once they get back."

"That would be alright I guess. …Miroku? Do you even have the smallest idea of where we need to be looking?"

"I'm afraid not. But maybe we'll be able to meet someone along the way who can give us a clue. Perhaps we'll get lucky and find what we're looking for in the very first shrine." He said trying to sound optimistic but failing horribly.

"If only. Unfortunately things tend to be in the last place you look, don't they?"

"That's very true Kagome…but that's only because you stop looking after you find it." He offered, making her feel just a bit better…after all he was always the one bringing her down in the first place, wasn't he?

* * *

More author's note: I really hope my writer's block is cured by the next chapter...for your sake! 


	6. Catching up

It's been three years since my last update! Sorry! Hopefully someone will still be interested in this story. I wanted to finish it before I went on with my newer stories, but I don't know about this chapter. I sort of got off track, so it's might not be consistant with the previous chapters, etc... And it might be a little boring because I'm building up to the good part hehe :/

By the way, I just want to remind everyone that Sango means coral. This will make sense halfway into the chapter :]

* * *

Chapter six

"_Ahh, I'm so tired!_" Kagome silently complained, but didn't dare to voice her thoughts. They had only begun their long journey an hour ago, and she realized that even Miroku would quickly lose patience with her if she were to start complaining at this point, especially considering that she had a bicycle while he had to walk. She hadn't anticipated that only a month away from this routine would cause her to fall out of shape so much. How could that have happened? It wasn't as if she spent all her time at home just lying around.

"How are you doing back there?" Miroku's voice called from a distance ahead, jerking her from her thoughts. She hadn't realized that she had fallen behind already, and she quickly sped up her pace to catch up.

"I had thought I'd be the one to lag behind." He lightly teased her. "I'll be happy to carry you for a bit if you get too tired." He added, strangely just from the goodness of his heart without a single trace of nefariousness.

"No no, I'm fine! I just got lost in my thoughts for a moment, that's all!" She laughed it off, and sped up a little as if that would prove her point.

"Well, try to keep up then. We need to stay focused, we don't have a lot of time to spare." He reminded her. She nodded without a word and took special care to not fall behind any more than a few feet from then on.

-

It was so quiet with just the two of them.

"_That's because Inuyasha isn't here to tell at everybody."_ Kagome thought. She hated the way it felt like several eternities lapsed between each of their conversations. To make it even worse, it was only the late morning, and they still had a full day ahead of them. Miroku seemed so unlike himself. She figured he was still thinking of Sango. She felt like she should say something to help take their minds off of it and make their journey a little more amiable, but _what_?

"It's kind of quiet when it's just the two of us, isn't it?" Miroku admitted before she had the chance. "Now that I think about it, I guess we wouldn't really have too much in common, would we?"

"Of course we do! We've had experiences together that not a lot of other people can claim, haven't we?"

"That's true, but are those the kinds of things you want to talk about at a time like this?" Miroku questioned, and she realized he was right.

"No matter how well you think you know somebody, there's always something new to learn about them. Why don't you tell me something about you I don't know?" She spoke off the top of her head.

He pondered for a moment. "Like what?"

"Anything! Surely there's something about you that I don't know yet." She encouraged him. Mentally, she sighed. This sober monk was so unlike the joyful and carefree Miroku she had known before.

"Hmmm…." He pondered some more.

'_What could be so hard about this_?' she wondered as he took his time.

"How about I go first?" She finally offered. "When I was a child, I had a doll that I absolutely adored. I took her everywhere, and I'd cry when my mom would try to get me to leave her at home. She got filthy a lot because I would drag her around the dirt at the playground with me. It's kind of embarrassing…I didn't stop playing with her until I was 12 years old! I don't play with her now of course, but I still have her. I don't think I could ever get myself to just throw her away, or even give her to someone else…" She babbled and looked over at him to find him looking back with an unreadable expression. "But…maybe that's not really the type of thing you're interested in knowing about." She shrunk back in embarrassment.

"No," He assured her. "I don't mind." He was silent for a little bit. "Did she have a name?" he finally inquired.

Kagome grinned. "Sachiko!"

"I had a fish."

"A fish?"

"Well I didn't really own it. It lived in a pond. But I sat by the pond often just to watch it."

"Did the fish have a name?" She mimicked him.

He pursed his lips as he tried to recall. "I don't believe I named it. It wasn't my pet, so I guess I just didn't bother giving it a name. It was beautiful though. About this big." He demonstrated with his hands. "It was white with a few gold and black spots."

"It sounds lovely. I don't think I know anyone else who grew fond of a fish that wasn't their pet before."

"It was very relaxing to me. It was just a little bit after my father died. Back then I didn't know what was going to happen or what to do, so it was calming to just sit and watch it gracefully swim around."

"Oh…" As dumb as she felt, she didn't really know what to say to that. This wasn't where she meant for the conversation to end up. "At least now you know it all ended up okay." She tried to sound cheerful.

"Yes." He put on a painfully obvious fake smile. "In that regard, anyway."

She suppressed a sigh and rolled her head back to look up at the sky. She was sad too, but at least she was making an effort to act optimistic about things.

-

The breeze blew through her hair as she coasted down a grassy hill on her bike. It felt good since the midday sun was getting to be just a little too hot for her liking.

"Miroku?" she asked. "Would it be alright to stop and rest for just a little while? We can reenergize." She shook her backpack full of instant noodles and other quick snacks. "And it would be nice to get out of the sun for a few minutes." She tried to stay humble. She found herself acting differently than she would have with Inuyasha…perhaps because she had been the one to beg Miroku to guide her.

He looked up at the sun as if calculating. "Of course. We've made good time already." He agreed, and they moved towards a group of trees they had spotted at the base of the hill.

They went to sit under the shade of a tall tree and Kagome offered him a bottle of water, which would have been refreshing if it hadn't gotten so hot in the backpack. Unfortunately it hadn't gotten hot enough to make the instant noodles, so their snack choices were rather limited. Minimum words were spoken as she shared a bag of rice crackers with him, and after they ate he propped up against the tree trunk and closed his eyes.

Kagome didn't want to say anything, but she was a little peeved. She had been trying to make the trip enjoyable and he didn't even want to talk to her! Well fine. She had tried making conversation already, so if this is what he wants, she won't interfere anymore.

"Let's only spend money if it's raining." He suddenly spoke up, without so much as opening his eyes.

"Eh?" She was startled out of her annoyance.

"I've been trying to figure out our budget. Obviously it won't be too much different from what we're used to dealing with. I may be able to make some money from a few blessings here and there, but not much. Even if we shared a room, it can start to get expensive. So if you don't mind, we'll need to sleep outside as much as we can in order to save money for other necessities." He had clearly been giving a lot of thought to this. Honestly it was something she hadn't even considered that much. She had just assumed it would be like it was before, but he was right.

"Y-yeah. Of course. It would be silly to waste money on accommodations when the weather is nice." She agreed.

"But it's almost June." He quickly reminded her. "The rainy season will start in just a few days, so I think we need to work our hardest until then, to at least ensure that we have enough money saved up for somewhere to stay."

That's right! She had totally forgotten about the rainy season too! She suddenly felt so impetuous, jumping into this situation without mapping out a plan beforehand.

"I'm sorry Miroku." She blurted to him. "I've forced you into doing this and I didn't even think things like this through."

He just shook his head. "I've had worse experiences." He assured her. "Plus a little rain isn't going to kill us. It's better to go ahead with this now than wait around any longer and watch our chance slip through our hands."

She smiled and nodded. "And…" She hesitated before continuing. "When we do rent a room, I don't mind sharing if it will save money." Her discomfort came through in her voice. But she could trust him now, right?

He laughed for the first time that day. "I appreciate your compliance, Kagome. Since we will be spending the nights alone together out here anyway, it wouldn't make sense to get separate rooms at an inn."

"Eh!" Kagome hadn't considered that before, either, but he made a good point. But at least at an inn, someone would be able to hear her scream…

-

Kagome felt a lot better once they went on their way again. Not only did they have a more clear-cut plan, but now she knew that the reason he had been so quiet was because he had been in deep thought, and not because of her.

They stuck to their plan that first nightfall and set up camp in a little clearing on the forest floor. Kagome went about unrolling her sleeping bag and looking forward to finally crawling in and conking out. She felt like they had walked across continents, rather than just a few miles.

Then she remembered Miroku and that stopped her in her tracks.

"I'm sorry Miroku…I only have the one sleeping bag. Would you like to take it tonight?" She had to force herself to offer. He was probably even more tired than she was, since he had been on foot all day.

"That's okay, Kagome. Don't worry about me. As a monk, I don't require the usual comforts for the body." He appeared to be dead serious.

'_Yeah right_!' Her mind screamed, but she held her tongue. "Well if you change your mind…" She began, and slid in to the soft and wonderful fabric.

She opened her eyes what she thought was a few seconds later, but instead of the darkness she saw the light golden beginnings of daylight creeping up around her.

But wait…the stars were still too bright and the birds were still too quiet. That wasn't daylight, but the light of a campfire Miroku must have started after she fell asleep.

She turned and saw him a few yards away, sitting in front of the glowing flames.

"Did I wake you?" He asked softly.

"No." She moaned a little sleepily. "I guess I woke myself up. Why aren't you asleep?"

"I thought I had better keep a watch out for danger." He explained, but she knew he was lying. There were no dangerous creatures in these woods and they didn't have anyone after them, so there was little reason to be on guard. But nevertheless she went along with it.

"You need your rest too. We should take turns. Why don't you go to sleep and I'll stay up for awhile?" She tried to convince him, even though she knew she would fall back asleep within five minutes anyway.

"No, that's unnecessary. Please go back to sleep. We've got another long day ahead of us tomorrow." He tried to sound enthusiastic but was too transparent.

But Kagome didn't say another word; she just nodded and sank back down into her makeshift bed.

'_You're still thinking of her, aren't you_?' she wanted to say. But instead she shut her eyes and drifted back to her dreams.

-

They began their journey again bright and early the next morning. Kagome couldn't believe it was only their second day. It felt like they had been travelling for years. It had been different with more people. More people to talk to, more stories to be told.

Kagome never knew if Miroku had slept at all the night before. He was already up when she woke up and didn't make any conversation other than asking if she was ready to get going.

"Wanna play a game?" She asked when she couldn't bear the silence any longer. "It will help the time go by faster."

"A game? What kind?"

"Hmmm…" She thought. "Do you know any word games?"

"Not really."

This was going to be another frustrating morning, she saw.

"Okay, then I'll teach you one. I'll say a word and you say the first word that comes to mind, and then I'll say the first word that comes to mind, and so on. Got it?"

"I suppose I do."

"Water." She began.

"Ocean."

"Seaweed."

"Fish."

"San-" She began, and then realized what she almost let slip out. "S-sand." She stuttered. Miroku would have to be an idiot to not know what she had almost said. This game was a bad idea.

"Nothing really comes to mind for sand." He said after a second.

She rolled her eyes at herself. Great. Five words and the game was over already, and it was her fault. Why did she always have to mess up their conversations? But the real question was: Why did she feel like they needed to walk on eggshells concerning Sango and Shippo?

'_They wouldn't have wanted us to be like this. They would have wanted us to fondly remember them, and laugh about the fun times we had together_.' She told herself, and wished she could tell Miroku that, too. But she couldn't get herself to speak the words out loud. He was so gloomy since she came back. It was like he was a totally different person now.

That was probably just because they were on a hunt for a way to get Inuyasha back, and not the others. She had a chance to get what she wanted back, and he didn't. She didn't blame him when she thought of it that way.

But as painful as it was, they had to keep going. There was the possibility of getting _one_ of them back, and that was worth putting themselves through far worse things than awkward silences.

-

"Hey, look!" Kagome alerted Miroku as they came across a patch of wild mushrooms.

"Poisonous." He said, and kept on walking.

She heaved a sigh and kept peddling behind him. She wanted some fruits and vegetables to add to her instant noodles. And some real meat, too, not just the tiny, chewy pieces of 'meat' that were sparsely mixed in already. Maybe they would come across a river and be able to catch some fish to grill for dinner…

Her stomach rumbled at the thought, and she knew Miroku had heard her. They hadn't had a big lunch since they were trying to ration out what they had for as long as they could.

"We should reach the village soon. I'll try to do what I can so you can eat enough this evening." He offered without looking back at her.

"No, that's okay! I've wanted to drop some weight, anyway." She tried to laugh. '_That was stupid! Just say yes!' _Her inner voice berated her good manners.

Miroku suddenly stopped and Kagome dragged her feet in the dirt to stop her bicycle a few feet behind him.

"Kagome, please just think of me as a good friend and don't hesitate to ask me for something. It's not necessary for you to be so polite." He turned to face her and smiled a genuinely friendly smile. "I will take good care of you on this journey, okay?" He punctuated before he turned back around and started walking again without waiting for her to reply.

"Miroku!" Kagome quickly peddled to catch up to him. "I want you to know how grateful I am for your help." She finally said what she should have said a long time ago.

"I know you are." He simply said. "And I'm happy to assist you."

"E-even though things are different now," She stuttered as she tried to phrase her words just right. "I hope we can still be like we were before." She wanted to continue to say all of the things she had been thinking this whole time, her thoughts about what Sango and Shippo would have wanted, about how he could talk to her about his grief he must be feeling still.

But she was interrupted when Miroku stopped once again at the top of the tall hill they had been crossing. He pointed out to the horizon and looked toward her with happy eyes.

"Look! We were making better time than I thought!" He finally sounded somewhat joyous.

Kagome looked out to where he was gesturing to see the first village on their long list sitting just a little bit further ahead of them.

A smile involuntarily crept over her face. This meant that their journey might already be over. It also meant that their long journey might just be beginning. And it meant that they would get to rest for the remainder of the day.

They hurried down the hill to the village and appeared to be a happy couple as they entered the quiet farming outskirts and headed to the slightly more bustling center.

"Travellers!" An old woman who was missing several of her teeth called out and she hobbled over to greet them. She probably ran an inn and was looking for someone to rent a room.

"Need a place to stay for the night?" She proved Kagome's thoughts right.

"No, I don't think we will be staying the night." Miroku politely declined, and Kagome's heart sank. That's right, it wasn't raining, so they had to save their money. But then again, if this town had what they were looking for their search would be over, so they wouldn't need to save their money. But then again, if this town had what they were looking for things like a bed to sleep in would be the furthest thing from their minds.

"Kagome? Aren't you coming?" Miroku's voice brought her out of her thoughts. She had completely missed their conversation! Well wherever they were going, she hurried to catch up for what felt like the hundredth time.

"The temple! Of course!" Kagome realized once Miroku stopped in front of the old building. She parked her bicycle and followed Miroku in with baited breath. This could be it…

"A what?" The resident monk looked confused after they had explained what they were looking for.

"I guess that means you don't have one." Miroku sighed.

The monk shook his head. "I'm very sorry, but I do not. I wish I could be of assistance to you. You must have travelled a long way." He said as he eyed Kagome's clothes. "Please, let me at least provide your evening meal before you go." He said very humbly.

"Oh no, we couldn't trouble you." Kagome bowed back to him.

"But that's what I'm here for!" he reminded her.

Twenty minutes later they were seated in front of their hot bowls of rice and simmered vegetables. This monk obviously stuck closer to his Buddhist teachings than Miroku did. Oh well, at least there were vegetables! Kagome tried to stay grateful and dug in. It was better than instant noodles again, even though this probably wouldn't keep her full through the night.

They finished quickly and thanked the monk profusely for what he had been able to help them with before they exited. If only they were able to stay the night there! Kagome wished, but it couldn't be helped. Besides, Miroku looked like he had more business to take care of, with the way he was quickly walking to their next destination.

He stopped just outside of the village by the little creek that flowed there.

"Miroku?" Kagome inquired as he just stood by the edge of the water and motionlessly peered down.

He didn't answer at first and appeared to be meditating. Maybe that kind monk filled him with a new passion for his job, she pondered as she observed his curious actions.

After a short while he suddenly plunged the end of his staff into the water and lifted it up, displaying the medium sized fish he had speared for her to see.

"Wow Miroku! I've never seen you do that before!" She praised his fishing skills as he came back to her side.

"To be honest I didn't know it would work so well." He seemed as impressed with himself as she was. "Anyway, I'm glad it did. I promised you I would make sure you had enough to eat tonight." He reminded her as he went about searching for twigs and sticks to start a fire.

"Oh Miroku, you really didn't-"

"What did I say before?" he stood and looked at her.

"Thank you for taking such good care of me." She backtracked and rephrased her words.

"It's the least I can do. You took such good care of us in the past." He spoke as he began to build a little fire right by the creek. The sun was nearly setting so the soft glow was nice, and the sound of the gentle creek was relaxing.

They sat in silence as the fish grilled over the flames and Kagome wanted so badly to jump in the water and wash away all of the sweat and dirt that had collected on her over the past two days. But obviously she couldn't with Miroku right beside her.

Once the fish was cooked he removed it from the fire and handed it to her.

"Aren't you going to take half?" She asked before she took it from him.

"You eat first." He insisted. "I'll take what's left."

Why is he being so nice to me? She wondered as she waited for her meat to cool a little. She couldn't help but think about what it would be like if the others were there with them. Inuyasha would have grabbed the fish before anyone else had a chance and then would have yelled at Miroku for not catching more than one. Shippo would probably be crying over the stolen fish, and Sango would be helping Kagome to berate Inuyasha for his selfishness. Or maybe Shippo would be having too much fun splashing in the water to even…

She felt her eyes become wet and her throat get tight, so she emptied the thoughts from her mind. She didn't want to cry in front of Miroku. Instead she occupied herself with eating the fish-enough to fill her up and to let him know that she was very appreciative of his hard work, but also making sure to leave enough for him.

"Thanks for the food." She said as she passed the remainder to him. He took it and began to nibble on the rest of the meat.

They didn't say much for the rest of the evening, just a comment here and there about the warm fire, and how they might have better luck at the next village. They were both just too exhausted to bother with much else, and before she knew it, Kagome had fallen asleep where she sat, without even bothering to set up her sleeping bag.

She woke up in the middle of the night, as she had the night before, but this time it was because of her aching back caused by the hard and uneven ground.

She moaned as she sat up, her back popping and cracking as she moved, and felt around for her backpack. The fire had gone out long ago but the stars were bright enough to guide her, and to let her see Miroku sleeping peacefully a couple of feet away. She was glad to see that he had allowed himself to rest this time.

She lingered for a second before deciding to spread out her sleeping bag on the ground and hopefully maneuver Miroku onto it without disturbing him from his sleep.

She thought it had been a big success after she had nudged him onto the fabric, but when she started to go back to her own spot, he grabbed her hand to prevent her from leaving his side.

"Kagome," He said quietly, and she felt startled. Perhaps he had just been playing nice all this time, and now that she was out here in the middle of nowhere with him, and totally helpless he was going to turn back into a lecher! How dare he!

"Don't leave." He spoke, and that's when she realized that he wasn't awake at all. He was talking in his sleep! "You're all I have left. Please don't leave." He frowned slightly and his grip on her hand tightened.

Kagome couldn't help but frown as well. He looked completely desolate and lost.

"I'm not going anywhere. I promise." She whispered back, even though she knew he couldn't hear. Nevertheless his grip on her hand relaxed and she was able to crawl back to her spot.

It took her a long time to go back to sleep after that.


End file.
